Media unit of Canada's Quebecor to cut 8 percent of workforce

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TORONTO (Reuters) - Quebecor Inc’s media subsidiary said on Wednesday that it will cut 220 jobs, nearly 8 percent of its workforce, and cease publication of two magazines in a bid to slash costs, the latest in a string of layoffs in Canadian media.

Quebecor Media Group said the move would mostly affect managers, professionals and support staff, and would have no impact on its newsrooms or on news coverage across Quebec.

The move includes the loss of 125 jobs at the media group’s subsidiary TVA Group Inc, one of the largest broadcasters and publishers of French-language content in North America and a major production company.

TVA Publications will no longer publish the Chez Soi and Tellement bon magazines, the media company said.

“In Quebec as elsewhere in the world, our industry is facing ongoing disruption,” Julie Tremblay, chief executive of Quebecor Media Group and TVA Group Inc, said in a statement that did not estimate the likely cost of the restructuring or the scale of any expected savings.

The Canadian media industry is struggling to deal with falling advertising revenue and the migration of audiences to online outlets, with several of its biggest players recently offering buyouts to workers or cutting jobs amid sustained operating losses.

Rogers Communications Inc in September said it will stop printing four of its biggest magazines next year and sell all its French-language and trade publications.

Quebecor said that it will incorporate its local newspaper advertising salespeople into a broader team dealing with national sales, media creativity and research, in a bid to better serve advertisers.